The Bilance of the Czech International Agrarian Trade for 2018

In 2018 the turnover from Czech international agrarian trade (IAT) decreased as well as in previous year. Exports achieved a year on year decrease of CZK 10 bn., i.e. 5 %, imports saw an increase of CZK 2.2 bn., i.e. 0.9 %. As a result of this development the annual deficit for Czech IAT deepened by 24 % to CZK 40.3 bn. The degree of import coverage by exports fell slightly by 3.6 p.p. to 82.2 %. As well as in the previous two years the negative trade balance with the EU 28 worsen also in 2018 when deepen by CZK 7.3 billion (43 %). In contrast, in the case of third countries, the trade deficit fell by 4.6 % to CZK 15.7 billion

Agrarian goods as a percentage of year-on-year total Czech exports declined slightly by 0.4 p.p. to 4.2 %, whilst in the case of imports it increased slightly by 0.3 p.p. to 5.7 %.

Agricultural goods only participated in 2.5 % of the turnover of the CR’s total international trade with third countries (which represents a year-on-year decrease of 0.3 p.p.) while in the EU-28 framework it attained 5.8 % (decrease of 0.4 p.p ).

As mentioned above, the bulk of the CR’s IAT is done on the European Union market. Its share in Czech agricultural imports in 2018 rose by 0.1 p.p. to 86.0 %, while Czech agrarian exports grew by 0.1 % to 91.6 %. The commodities most exported from the CR in 2018 were cigarettes, preparations used for animal nutrition, bakers' wares, unsweetened milk and cream, food preparations, wheat, beer, chocolate and other cocoa preparations, cheese and quark, rapeseed oil, lemonades, live cattle, confectionery not containing cocoa, coffee, coffee extracts and concentrates, incl. preparations based on them, sugar, rape seed, meat preparations and preserves, rape oilcake, malt, smoked meats and salami, sunflower oil, spirits. Other commodities and commodity aggregations accounted for less than 1 % of Czech agricultural exports.

Among the commodities most imported (with more than 1 %) to the Czech Republic in 2018 were pork, bakers' wares, cheese and quark, cigarettes, chocolate and other cocoa products, food preparations, preparations used for animal nutrition, poultry meat and giblets, coffee, wine, lemonades, spirits, beef, coffee extracts and concentrates incl. extracts based on them, bananas, soya oilcake, peppers, citrus fruits, preparations made of flour, meal, starch or milk, rape seed, butter, other manufactured tobacco and its substitutes, preserved and other prepared fruit and nuts, tomatoes, fish fillets and other fish meat (fresh, chilled or frozen).

The commodity development of the Czech IAT balance was mainly influenced by the development of trade in products for which exports dominated over imports. Specifically, by the drop in the value of the active balance with cigarets and wheat.

Similarly as in previous years, the most important markets for agrarian goods from the CR in 2018 were Slovakia, Germany, Poland, Italy, Austria and Hungary. With regard to the average for 2013–2017, the value of Czech agrarian exports to four of these countries decreased in 2018, moreover, compared to 2017, there was a decrease in five of them (mainly to Italy). Of the third countries our most important buyer, despite the embargo, remains Russia, where, after a significant year-on-year decline in 2015, there has been a noticeable increase in previous three years. Other export destinations of Czech exports outside the EU are China, USA, Turkey and Japan. The main suppliers of agricultural goods to the CR in 2018 were Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Italy, Hungary and Austria. In a year-on-year comparison, the values of imports from these countries did not change significantly. As usual the main suppliers from third countries were China, USA, Norway and Turkey. As concerns Norway, there was a 10 % year-on-year drop (arctic salmon).

Graph: Czech IAT balance 2014 - 2018 (CZK bn.)

Source: International Trade Database of the CZSO, February 2019

Table: Development of the Czech IAT from 2016 to 2018 by quarter (CZK bn.)

Indicator	IAT turnover	Agrarian export	Agrarian import	IAT balance	Degree of coverage of imports by ex- ports (%)	Share of the balance in exports (%)	Share of IAT turn- over in total IT turnover (%)	Share of agrarian exports in total exports (%)	Share of agrarian imports in total imports (%)
1. Q. 2016	106,7	49,9	56,8	-6,9	87,9	13,7	5,7	5,0	6,6
2. Q. 2016	107,8	51,5	56,2	-4,7	91,6	9,1	5,7	5,1	6,4
3. Q. 2016	103,2	48,7	54,4	-5,7	89,5	11,7	5,8	5,2	6,5
4. Q. 2016	109,5	52,0	57,5	-5,6	90,3	10,7	5,7	5,1	6,3
1. Q. 2017	105,2	49,7	55,5	-5,7	89,7	11,5	5,2	4,6	5,8
2. Q. 2017	109,0	51,0	58,0	-7,0	87,9	13,8	5,4	4,7	6,1
3. Q. 2017	102,8	46,6	56,2	-9,5	83,0	20,4	5,4	4,7	6,2
4. Q. 2017	107,7	48,8	58,9	-10,1	82,8	20,8	5,2	4,5	5,9
1. Q. 2018	98,0	43,4	54,7	-11,3	79,4	26,0	4,8	4,0	5,7
2. Q. 2018	102,7	46,3	56,4	-10,1	82,0	21,9	4,9	4,2	5,7
3. Q. 2018	103,0	47,1	56,0	-8,9	84,1	18,9	5,1	4,5	5,7
4. Q. 2018	110,6	49,6	61,0	-11,5	81,2	23,1	4,9	4,2	5,6

Note: Agrarian goods are defined by Chapters 01 to 24 of the Customs Tariff. Calculations are based on unrounded data.

Source: International Trade Database of the CZSO, February 2019

Table: Development of the Czech IAT from 2014 to 2018 (bn. CZK)

Indicator	IAT turnover	Agrarian export	Agrarian import	IAT balance	Degree of coverage of imports by ex- ports (%)	Share of the balance in exports (%)	Share of IAT turn- over in total IT turnover (%)	Share of agrarian exports in total exports (%)	Share of agrarian imports in total imports (%)
2014	380,2	180,2	199,9	-19,7	90,2	10,9	5,6	5,0	6,2
2015	422,1	201,4	220,7	-19,3	91,3	9,6	5,7	5,2	6,3
2016	426,3	201,6	224,7	-23,1	89,7	11,5	5,7	5,1	6,4
2017	424,7	196,1	228,6	-32,4	85,8	16,5	5,3	4,6	6,0
2018	412,5	186,1	226,4	-40,3	82,2	21,7	4,9	4,2	5,7

Note: Agrarian goods are defined by Chapters 01 to 24 of the Customs Tariff. Calculations are based on unrounded data.

Source: International Trade Database of the CZSO, February 2019